Can't overclock past 3.2GHz on X3 720, help!

Hypertransport should be 4GT/s or above.

ok, your doing it all ON stock voltages, you're lucky to get it 3.4 Ghz stable, i had to uptick mine up one bit to get it stable...

Basically, the stock volt is 1.325, and you should add .025 to it, making it 1.35, and that was the stable voltage for my speed. Turn the "auto" setting to "manual" and leaving every volt option alone except the CPU voltage one.

as for HT, i've heard that if you set the HT a bit lower than stock, it will help in stabilizing, but go Google for more info.

Ya thanks for the replies btw. The problem I'm dealing with though is that I don't think my BIOS has an option for setting my voltage to "auto" to "manual". I've looked everywhere for it but I can't seem to find it. I've updated my BIOS to the newest version as well and I've heard of people getting up to 3.6GHz with my motherboard... do you want me to post a pic of my bios?

Well, since no one has posted yet I guess I'll just post the pictures





To clarify, I'm using an AMD X3 720 BE and the motherboard is the M4A78 PLUS
and I can't find the adjustment for the vcore voltage.

Didn't your last picture show how to increase the CPU voltage? +50mv, +100mv, +150mv.

I have no idea, I don't think it is because I set it to +150mv and it still would crash on my OCCT test at 3.6GHz.

Download Cpu-z and check your cpu voltage, then go into the bios and up the voltage by the +150mv and then log into windows and use cpuz to check the voltage again. Just because its crashing doesn't mean that you need to up the voltage, what cooler are you using? If temps are too high it might become unstable.

wow, thats a new one. at least to me.
MV?
well try 100MV
maybe you were overvolting it...?

I doubt it's my heating, usually my temps are around 27c idle and about 45c under full load and I got the Xigamatek 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler . Unless there's something that tells my CPU to just shut down after a certain temp? But I don't think that's the case. When I set the voltage to +150mv in the BIOS; CPUZ reads around 1.45 volt for the vcore and when set it auto it's around 1.3 so I do think it up'd the volt a little, but it kinda hovers at around 1.45 and fluctuates depending on how much I use the computer. Also I turned off AMD Cool n Quiet. To add, could it possibly be that I need to up the volts on my PCI-E? RAM? or Chipset? If not, I'm really puzzled on why my CPU won't be able to overclock to 3.6GHz. BTW, when I clock it to 3.6GHz windows starts up fine, it just crashes when I test it on OCCT.

just try less voltage.

try just 100MV

Okay... so I did set it to 100mv and FSB to 200 and multiplier to 18 so that it's 3.6GHz. However when I was setting up the OCCT test I did notice something, there wasn't a monitor for my 5v? Because it went from vcore, 3.3v, 12v, and then nothing for 5v? Could that be the problem? Also when the test actually started(the first minute is the CPU being idle) then when the actual full load began it ran for about 5 seconds and then just bsod'd again. Any ideas? I think we can cross out heat as a problem..

I'm a newbie too. I just OC my x3 720 today. I did that by increasing the multiplier and CPU voltage in BIOS little by little. Finally I got it to 3.7G/1.5V. Need to run prime95 longer to test the stability.
It seems that you made a big jump from 3.2 to 3.6GHz. You should actually try to increase it little by little, 100MHz each time and test the stability.

i'd agree with him here, no matter how experienced you are or how much you have google'd it, i would highly reccomend changing little by little. honestly i'm kind of surprised you have fried anything thusfar.

Does the bios let you increase your voltage higher than 150 mV? Because some cpu + mobo combination might require different voltage to achieve the same speed as others. For myself, it took 1.525 V for my 720 BE to be overclocked to 3.7 Ghz using multiplier only. But the voltage was too high for my liking so I increased my FSB instead and placed the multiplier back to the default 14. I'm running it at 3.64 Ghz with 1.45 V. If you can't increase your voltage by more than 150 mV, then try increasing your FSB instead which is CPU/HT Reference clock in your bios.

I've got No problem Set your cpu voltage to 1.5 ddr at 1066 set the ram voltage to ram specs turn off cool and quiet disable spread spectrum if applicable disable c1e also if applicable some mobos dont have all options your screens shows enough options to crank it up more than you have and do you have a big enough psu to run it with the extra wattage???? Also use your amd overdrive in advanced mode you shuould'nt even have to go to bios after initial adjustments.just tweak from overdrive.Take your time and don't rush it also play with the NB voltage if necessary
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=585061

Thanks for the replies, so should I start from my stock clock speed(2.8GHz) and overclock in increments from there and test each increment in OCCT everytime until it's stable at a high enough GHz?

Bro if you want it to happen do it slowly over a couple of days and small increments to check for stability as you monitor temps etc.Oc'ing is an art not a race.To be honest i have wound my 720 back to 3.55gigs and lowered the voltages to let me enjoy it for a while and not worry about cooking something as it did cost me some hard earned dollars.At 3.55 gigs it's still SICK......